Cataclysm (Four Horsemen #4)(97)

Forty Three


Scarlett





My ears started ringing the moment Drake said the word marriage. My hand went to my mouth as I tried to process it. The idea of it. The implications. And I had no idea what to say. It’s not like I expected them to ask me for this, considering it wouldn’t be legally recognised. It never even crossed my mind. The only thing I’d ever been sure of was spending my life with them.

What did Drake even mean by right now?

Did they want to do some kind of ceremony?

What exactly were they expecting from me?

I dropped my hand from my mouth and frowned.

“We can’t get married.”

“It wouldn’t really be a marriage, little lamb, more of a lifelong commitment to each other with vows and stuff,” Prescott said, cocking his head to the side. “We want to show you how much we love you and we’re in this for life.”

“We want to hold a commitment ceremony… of sorts,” Francis added.

I looked at West, as he hadn’t said anything. He smiled at me, his amber eyes glinting. Then he put his beer down on the bench and knelt at my feet. He took both my hands in his.

“We’ve made so many promises to each other over the years. Let us reaffirm them. Your forever is our forever. You’re ours and we’re yours.” He pressed a kiss to my fingers. “Are you in this with us, little Scar?”

He knew I was but that wasn’t what he was asking. It was about tonight and the things we’d shared together. Would one more step towards the future be too far? I’d already devoted my life to them. It was quite frankly adorable, sweet and completely romantic that they wanted a commitment ceremony with me. These four men were so dark and depraved, but with me, they could be kind, understanding, and loving. They treated me like their queen now we’d moved beyond our past. Now everything was out in the open and we were no longer burdened by lies and secrets. They were everything I could ever ask for and more.

“I’m in.”

West smiled, placing another kiss to my fingers before he let go of my hands and stood. He turned his attention to Francis.

“Did you get everything?”

He grinned and moved away to Drake’s glass structure. They’d planned this. I didn’t mind them hiding it to give me a surprise. It was a good one, not some nefarious shit they’d been involved in.

Francis came back with a box of things and set it down on the bench next to me. He took out a small box, which he opened and placed in my lap. Nestled inside it were five platinum rings. One of them was smaller than the others, clearly meant for me. I picked it up and looked on the inside, finding a little horsehead had been carved into it. It made me smile. Next, Francis took out a long length of rope that was braided with different colours. Green, red, purple, blue and black woven with silver thread. The final items he extracted were a knife and bandages.

I had an idea of what all of this meant and who had chosen these things, but I smiled up at him as he put his hand out to me. He helped me to my feet and pressed me closer to Prescott.

“How is this going to go?” I asked as Prescott took my hand and kissed my knuckles.

“Follow Frankie’s lead,” West said with a shrug as he dug his hands in his pockets.

No surprise Francis was the one who had planned out the ceremony part.

“Okay, we all need to get in a circle for this to work,” Francis said, giving me a wink.

The boys herded me into the circle. I was standing next to West and Prescott with Drake and Francis in front of me.

Francis picked up the rope and slid the knife into his pocket. He made us place all our forearms together in a circle, so our hands were pressed to each other, then proceeded to bind our hands and wrists together with Drake’s help.

“This cord represents the binding of our souls. The knots are a symbol of our love and devotion to each other. May the five of us bring each other peace through the years. May we grow stronger with each passing day bound by our vows and commitments to each other. May the cord running between us never break. May we always be together as one.”

We all stared at the cord as Francis tied it off.

“Okay, Scar, you’re going first. So repeat after me… I vow to be your guiding light in the darkness, to cherish every moment we spend together in this lifetime and the next, to give you my heart and soul to keep safe, and to love you no matter what life brings our way.”

I repeated the words, smiling at all of them in turn.

“Thank you, Scar.” He turned his attention to Prescott. “Now you, repeat after me… I vow to be your protector in the darkness, to cherish every moment we spend in this lifetime and the next, to give you my heart and soul to keep safe, and to love you no matter what life brings our way.”

They all repeated after him and he said the words himself when it was his turn. Then he untied us and made us all put our hands out with our palms facing upwards. He took the knife from his pocket and set the point of the blade in Prescott’s palm.

He sliced across Prescott’s hand, then moved to West’s, cutting his hand too before his own. He took Drake’s, slicing through it and, finally, mine. I winced from the cut but didn’t complain about it.

“May our blood bind us for eternity.”

He made each of them rub their bloody palm against mine, mixing all our blood together. No doubt this was Drake’s contribution to this ceremony. The handfasting was definitely Francis. The knife, so very West. And the rings with the horse carvings in them? That was Prescott all over, with his little obsession with the horsemen.